Little Angel
by LonChaney
Summary: Christine Daaé is 10 years old, and has just arrived at the Opera Populaire. Her friends is giving her a hard time, and she's lonley and misreble. Her angel of music feels obligated to introduce himself bit earlier than planned.


Christine had never really belived in ghosts. She had always imagined them to be a figment of some people's wild imagination. When all the other little girls yelled about seeing 'the opera ghost', she sat there quietly, listening to it and finding it quite amusing. Everyone who had seen him had such different ideas about what he looked like. Sometimes, he was a monster with huge fangs and claws, and sometimes, he was a skeleton-like creature, dressed in a respecteble gentleman's outfit. Truth to be told, they probably knew nothing. Maybe that's why she didn't have any friends, she used to think sometimes. Because she didn't, really. All the other little girls liked eachother, and spent all the time in the world together, while she was always left out. At first, she thought it was because she didn't look like them. She found out that she was wrong. Then, she thought it was because she was an orphan. That was wrong aswell. So now, she had concluded, it must be because she didn't belive in the opera ghost.

* * *

When she was really little, it had all been different. She lived with her father, and she had loved him more than anything. Nowdays, it was hard to remember without crying. They had lived together for so long... she used to sing with him, and he used to play the violin. He always used to say that her voice could make the angels cry out of pure joy. She had friends aswell, back then. A boy, a nice boy who had played with her. But then he and his family left, and all the sad things started happening. Her father died, and she had to move away. 

She got to stay with a lady called Madame Giry, and her daughter Meg. Madame Giry was very nice sometimes, but she could also be very strict. Christine didn't like that at all. She missed her father terribly. Sometimes she used to cry at night, when no one could hear. She even used to tell herself stories that she loved, in order not to feel so lonley and sad. The story she most often told herself was the one about the Angel of music. It was a story her father had told her thousands of times. It was about an Angel that came to some people, people with a special love for music. The angel played heavenly tunes for them, and after that, they were never quite the same. Every note that came from them after that, would be heavenly as well. Christine used to wish that someday, the Angel would come to her. But until that day, she had decided, she would dance, just like Meg and Madame Giry wanted her to. Meg was very good at dancing, because she had danced since the day she was born, practicly. At least that's what she said. Christine used to laugh at that, because she couldn't imagine a little baby dancing like that! It seemed quite unrealistic. She turned out to be pretty good at dancing to, at least that's what Madame Giry said. So she moved in the the ballet dormitorys togehter with Meg. She found it pretty scary at first, because the ballet dormitorys were in the great Opera house. The Opera house was a very scary place for a little girl! Huge and dark and cold. Therefor, she never left Meg's side, because Meg weren't afraid of anything. Except for maybe the opera ghost.

Meg and Christine had been best friends for a while, when Meg suddenly started to spend more time with the other little girls. Christine became very lonely during the long, dreary hours when they weren't practicing, and needed something to do. One of her favourite occupations became to explore the opera house. The fact that it scared her was still there, but she very much prefered being a little scared to being sad and bored. She slowly but surley began to accept her lonliness, and made up her own little hiding places where she went when she needed to think. Sometimes, she would sneak in to the empty dressingrooms, and sometimes she would explore long and winding hallways, where it seemed like a monster would lurk in every corner. But if she got to scared, she calmed herself down by singing. She sang songs about happy things, and sometimes song she didn't really understand. But her own voice could always keep her grounded, and stop her from screaming and might be found by a janitor of something of the sort. The she was certain Madame Giry would be very angry with her. She always told the girls to not on any conditions wander around on their own, but Christine couldn't understand why! Perhaps she belived in the opera ghost to? It didn't matter to Christine, because not matter what anyone else said, she would never belive in such a silly and foolish story. And ever if there was a ghost, she was sure it wasn't a very dangerous one. Perhaps he was just lonley, like her?

* * *

One day, she got lost. She managed to stop herself from panicing, and made herself think rationally. _Where did I come from?_ She tried all the doors in the hallway, because she refused to call for help. If she did, she'd never get to explore again! And that, she didn't even want to think about... It took her about half an hour to find the right way. She ran all the way back to the dormitory, but it didn't matter, because everyone had all ready noticed she was missing. They were all waiting when she entered the room. They all stared, and against her will, she felt her eyes fill up with tears. Meg and another little girl, called little Jammes stood in the front of the crowd, smiling shamelessly at her. 

"Where have you been all day?", Meg asked softly.

"I... I've been...out", Christine stuttered, whishing they would leave her alone.

Little Jammes laughed. "In that case, Christine, I'm the opera ghost himself!"

"Just tell us where you've been, and I won't have to tell mama", Meg continued.

Christine shook her head, and she could feel tears rolling down her cheeks by now.

"We'll have to tell her then!", Little Jammes cried out, seemingly excited about it.

Then, Christine could no longer control herself. She wiped away her tears carefully, and then slapped the evil little girl right across the face as hard as she could. Perhaps she was imagening, but for a second she thought she heard a soft outburt of laughter somewhere in the room. Sounded like... a man? All the girls were dead quiet, though. Christine backed away from the crowd, stunned of what she had just done. _So devoutly stupid! _

Madame Giry entered the room, and Christine felt her blood freeze. Little Jammes was putting on a big scene, crying and moaning. Her face was turning a bit red too. Madame Giry was of course absolutley furious. She dragged Christine out of the room.  
"You will not hit the other girls, Christine!", she yelled. "Now, you will not sleep in the dormitory tonight. You will sleep alone in one of the empty dressing rooms. And you will stay there all night, do you hear me?" Christines eyes widened with fear. Alone all night? But she knew better than to protest, and nodded in consent. She dragged Christine in to a dark, hazy room that she hadn't been in before. It was pretty big, but the only peice of furniture was a bed, that looked distinctly uncomfortable. Madame Giry closed the door and Christine sat alone in the pitch black darkness. 'All night' is a very long time for a ten year old girl who doesn't really dare to sleep. She took a pillow from the bed, hugged it tightly and sat down in a corner. She closed her eyes, and sobbed to herself. "It's so _unfair_", she mumbled. "So unfair."


End file.
